


morning dew

by sunshine_daises_daffodils



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Boys In Love, Carnival AU, Dorks in Love, Everyone is a dork, First Kiss, First Meeting, High School AU, M/M, Nerds in Love, Nico is a Dork, One-Shot, all the bromances - Freeform, basically everyone - Freeform, everyone ships it, nico is not happy about it, percy gets ideas, percy/nico bromance, will is a dork, will's working a kissing booth and he's not happy about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 17:19:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10791174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshine_daises_daffodils/pseuds/sunshine_daises_daffodils
Summary: There was a green teddy bear in his left hand and a sparkly pink unicorn tucked under that arm, and the nervously clutching fingers of an adorable boy who was technically a stranger but felt closer in his right hand. It wasn't the worst feeling in the world.(Or, I give Nico and Will the tooth-rotting bag of cotton candy of a story they deserve.)





	morning dew

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! 
> 
> This is the first ever story I'm posting to ao3, I hope you like it! 
> 
> (This is incredibly cheesy. You have been warned.)

It was Percy’s idea.

Nico should have known by now that when Percy had an idea, the worst possible choice was to go along with it.

But he had been so sure that he would come out of today fine, if not completely smug. After all, the deal was that at the carnival today, someone would choose something out of their buddy’s comfort zone that they had to do, or else pay twenty bucks. Nico knew Frank, Hazel, and Leo would probably not enjoy this, since they were all scared of rollercoasters, but Nico wasn’t. Nico was great at rollercoasters, and Percy only liked water slides. He could practically feel that twenty-dollar bill sitting in his pocket already.

They split up at the entrance with plans to meet up at the line of food stalls for lunch. Jason and Piper immediately took off for the biggest roller coasters, crazy thrill seekers that they were. Annabeth and Hazel made for the boardwalk. Leo and Frank went in search of a face paint booth. That left Percy and Nico (and yes, they used the buddy system. They weren’t idiots. They were also all secretly third graders, except for Frank, who was secretly a crotchety old man.) 

Nico and Percy decided to wander down the midway. They spent a few bucks on the dart game, and Nico won a green teddy bear. Percy won a purple minion at the basketball shooting game, which he tried relentlessly to trade with Nico.

“That is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen, Jackson.” 

“Aw, come on, Nico! It’s authentic! From the movie!” 

“I wouldn’t watch that movie at gunpoint.”

“It’s actually really good though. The first one was even better. I thought you liked Steve Carell!”

“The Office and Despicable Me are two very different things, Percy. I have more refined taste than you.” 

“You do not!” 

“Oh yeah, Mr. I-Watch-Finding-Nemo-Every-Day?” 

“Yeah, Mr. I-Played-Mythomagic-Until-I-Was-Fourteen!” 

“I still play Mythomagic, doofus! So does Frank! So do you!” 

Their banter was easy. Stupid, but relaxed. Nico couldn’t help but feel a large sense of relief washing over him. Three years ago, he would have been hanging on Percy’s every word, trying to find the perfect name for the color of his eyes, but that weird hero-worship infatuation had faded into a better kind of closeness that he cherished. Plus, no relationship would ever be worth risking the wrath of Annabeth Chase. Ever. 

But anyway, it was nice to be here with Percy. Even though they were surrounded by people and loud noises and sounds, Nico felt calm and unbothered, about as breezy as he ever got. He hadn’t been to the carnival since he was little, even though it was set up by the boardwalk every year. He still found big groups of people a little enclosing and scary, but it was a nice day outside and it wasn’t overly crowded. It felt nostalgic and freeing to be here. He was in a pretty good mood, all things considered. 

All of a sudden, Percy’s relaxed smile shifted into an evil grin. “Hey, Nico.”

“What?” Nico was looking at a cotton candy stand, trying to determine if the over inflated price was worth a bag of sugary heaven and inevitable diabetes.  

“I found your challenge for today.” 

Nico frowned. They were nowhere near the big rollercoasters that he had figured the challenge would be about. He hadn’t even considered what Percy’s challenge should be yet. It wasn’t even eleven o’clock. “What is it?” 

Percy just pointed. 

Nico turned and his stomach plummeted, falling somewhere around the inner core of the Earth. 

It was a small, unimposing stand squished between a fishing pond and a guess-your-weight game. It was painted pink, with a wooden arch perched upon the table. A sign hung from the edge of the table, printed in flowery cursive. After a moment of blurry dyslexia confusion, Nico deciphered its message: “Kisses, $1 each.” But that wasn’t quite the sight that made Nico’s mouth dry and his legs wobbly. 

There was a boy standing behind the arch, looking absolutely petrified. 

Nico felt frozen. He vaguely felt movement beside him. Percy was pressing a dollar into his hand. “Go on. My treat.” 

He snapped back to life.  _ “No!”  _

“You swore on the River Styx that you’d do whatever I told you to do today!” 

“We came up with oaths on the River Styx when we were twelve, Percy, they don’t mean anything! And I thought you meant going on a giant roller coaster or something!” 

Percy scoffed. “Please. Those are easy. You need to put yourself out there.” 

He had hated being closeted to Percy, but now that Percy kept trying to set him up with every male in the state, he almost hated being out more, sometimes. Now was one of those times. 

“Percy, I really don’t want to do this.” 

Percy shrugged. “Okay. You can pay up then.”

Nico huffed a sigh, the dollar still clenched in his fist. Across the midway, the boy at the booth had no customers. He didn’t seem to be trying to lure any to him at all, actually, not like the guy at the guess-your-weight station who was calling out to the fairgoers passing him. Nico watched the boy shrink back as three middle-school aged girls stopped at his booth, looking like they were considering his service. But they ended up giggling and running away. 

That was when the boy looked up and met Nico’s eyes. He flushed bright pink and immediately looked the other way. Suddenly, Nico made up his mind. 

He snatched his wallet away from Percy, who had been searching for a twenty. “Give that back. I’m doing it.” 

Percy beamed and reached for his phone, but Nico slapped his hand away. “Don’t you dare take any pictures!” 

“I won’t!” Percy protested. Nico was already threading his way through the stream of people, towards the kissing booth. He didn’t see Percy grin and raise his phone anyway. 

Now that he was closer to the boy, Nico could tell that he was about his age--sixteen, maybe seventeen. He was tall, blond hair, blue eyed, kind of like Jason, but then, not at all like Jason, either. Jason’s white-blond hair was cropped short, while this boy’s hair was best described as golden, and wild, with long unruly curls flopping atop his head. A firework of freckles exploded across his face, centering on his nose. His eyes were blue. They weren’t especially cerulean or indigo, not breathtaking, but Nico thought they were rather nice. He was significantly taller than Nico, which he hadn’t noticed before. The height difference only made him feel more like a filthy, stumpy troll dragging himself out of a gutter. 

(No one had ever wanted to date Nico di Angelo. He tried not to think about it too much.) 

Nico felt his face growing hot as the boy turned to him and blinked. “Hi?” His voice wasn’t musical or anything, but it was soft, and it was nice. 

He shoved the crumpled bill into the boy’s hand. “My so-called friend is putting me up to this.” He couldn’t meet the boy’s eyes. 

The boy leaned around him to look across the midway. “The guy filming us?” 

Nico whipped around. Percy was holding up his phone and clearly aiming it at them. He winked at Nico and gave him a thumbs up. Nico flushed and lifted a different finger in return, then turned back to the boy. “Yes. That’s him.”

The boy whistled. “You know you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, right?”

Nico nodded. “I know, but…” But this was almost like proving he was completely over whatever fantasy he’d been stuck on for years with Percy. “I don’t want to be a chicken, you know?”

“Okay,” the boy said, and he smiled for the first time, shyly, and  _ wow,  _ were his teeth white and shiny and perfectly aligned. “If it makes you feel any better, my so-called brother is putting me up to this too. This is really his job, but he really hit it off with one of his...customers, earlier, and he blew me off.” He shrugged. “You’re my first customer, so far.”

“You’re my first, too.” Nico said, and immediately felt the insatiable urge to crawl down a sewer. “I mean, not my first customer, obviously, I don't have any of those. I mean you’re….you’re hypothetically….” 

“Hypothetically your first kiss?” the boy asked. 

Nico nodded, clenching his jaw. “Yeah.” he whispered roughly.

The boy smiled ruefully, then leaned across the table conspiratorially. “You would also, hypothetically, be my first kiss.” he whispered. “Which is honestly a relief. Compared to one of those middle school girls, or even any girl really, you’re…” He trailed off.

Nico watched the tips of his ears turn red. “I’m what?” he whispered. He hoped his voice wasn't as shaky as his hands were. 

The boy’s blue eyes were wide and anxious. “This is so awkward. How did I even get myself in this situation?” He drew away from Nico and brought a hand to his forehead. He started running his hand through his hair, messing it up even more. “I mean, this is just my luck. I’m working a goddamn kissing booth, and this adorable boy is paying to kiss me, only he’s probably straight because his friend is putting him up to it, and Lee won't come back, and I’m really ready to die, right here, right now, just strike me down right now—” 

“Excuse me?” Nico couldn't help saying, interrupting the boy’s panicked monologue. 

The boy looked paralyzed. “Did I say all of that out loud?” 

Nico nodded. 

The boy let out a moan, sprang back to the table, and let his head thunk onto the wood. Nico’s heart was racing, but felt a strange sense of comfort at the boy’s distress. He wasn't the only one who felt like his dignity was falling apart. (Also, it was a rare day that someone called him adorable, and maybe the world was just upside down today, and he wasn't in love with Percy Jackson anymore, and a beautiful boy thought he was adorable, and he was calm even though he was telling a stranger extremely personal details.)

“I’m not, you know.” he heard himself say. 

A blue eye peered up at him from behind a curtain of blond hair. “Not what?” 

Nico swallowed. “Not straight. I don't think Percy would have sent me over here if you were a girl.”

The boy stood up. He looked less distressed. “What’s your name?” 

“Nico di Angelo.” he said. 

The boy took a deep breath and gave Nico a wobbly smile. “I’m Will Solace.” 

_ Will.  _ It fit him. It sounded bright, somehow. 

Nico did his best to return the smile. “Will. It’s nice to meet you. Would you mind if I kissed you?” 

Will’s smile faded, but he shook his head. Nico closed his eyes, half-disbelieving he was even in this situation, and pretended that he wasn’t surrounded by hundreds of people, that Percy didn’t have a camera trained on him, that it was just him and a stranger, an awkward, shy boy just like him. 

They were separated by about a foot or so because of the booth, so Will was leaning down pretty far and Nico was standing on tiptoe to reach him, and it was kind of awkward anyway, since neither of them knew what they were doing. Nico didn't feel like a fire was burning through his insides, or like he was drowning, or any urge to throw Will to the ground and kiss him forever, but he did feel warm and a little fuzzy, and he thought,  _ This is pretty nice.  _

He didn't really want to stop, but an odd noise in the background made him pause. Behind the normal fairgoer sounds, was that….whooping? 

Nico broke apart from Will and turned slowly around. Not only Percy, but Jason, Hazel, Annabeth, Piper, Frank, Leo, and even Reyna freaking Ramirez-Arellano were clumped together on the edge of the midway, cheering and hollering. Half of them were holding their phones up, clearly filming or taking pictures or something. Leo even had the gall to wolf-whistle. People were staring, both at the obnoxious group of teenagers and the two boys with flushed cheeks and messy hair and hands that suddenly didn't know where to go, whether to hide in jeans pockets or to clutch the edge of the booth or to somehow find one another and tangle together. 

Nico squeezed Will’s hand once, hard, then released him. He dashed across the midway, hoping to smash Leo’s and Percy’s heads together. Instead, he was snatched up in a whirlpool of high fives, hugs, fist pumps, and celebratory punches. 

“He did it!”

“Can't believe it.” 

“Took guts, man.” (This accompanied by a friendly punch from Piper, which actually hurt quite a lot.) 

“Was that his first kiss?” 

“Who’s that guy, anyway?” 

Percy looked way too smug. Nico wanted to smack that gloating smirk off his face. “So?” 

“So what, Jackson?” Nico glared. 

“How was it?” 

“I think you can tell. Look how red his ears are.” Annabeth pointed out.

“Thanks for texting me, Percy. That was quite a show.” Reyna said, looking rather amused. 

“Percy actually texted all of us. That’s why we’re here.” Frank explained. 

Nico only snarled at them in return, but he softened when Hazel looped her arm through his. “Why don't we all grab some lunch? I think I saw a corn dog stand around the corner.” He couldn't help but be grateful to her for not being embarrassing. 

As they dispersed, Nico glanced quickly back towards the kissing booth. Will was gone. A CLOSED sign hung from the arch. 

He felt oddly satisfied. 

And the corn dog was satisfying too, crispy and fried and doughy. The kind of unhealthy food that almost makes you feel accomplished in some weird way. He let the conversation wash over him as he enjoyed it. Annabeth and Hazel told everyone how they’d bumped into Reyna on the boardwalk and saved some little kid from falling off the dock. Leo and Frank showed off their facepaint (Iron Man and some sort of weird green lizard design. “I’m an iguana!”) Piper gleefully reenacted Jason puking after riding the craziest roller coaster in the carnival, the Cannonball Drop. Percy tried to trade his purple Minion for anything else, but no one was taking it. Nico smiled and laughed at all the right places and tried to keep his thoughts from drifting to a shy, freckled boy who kissed like he was terrified of doing it wrong. 

(It wasn’t that he had hated it. It was the complete opposite, really. It was almost like an amazing dream lingering on the fringes of his mind, and he was afraid that if he thought about it too much, it would evaporate, like morning dew.) 

Suddenly aware that there was a twenty-dollar bill sitting in Percy Jackson’s pocket that belonged to him, Nico finished up his corn dog and dragged his friend off to the Cannonball Drop. (He, like Piper, loved it. Percy, like Jason, came off the ride so dizzy that Nico had to guide him as fast as he could to a trash can.) They all rode a water slide next, getting completely soaked, and then they rode the carousel. Nico was having a really great time. 

But by four, Nico was feeling an itch he couldn't scratch. The rest of his group was heading off to the Ferris wheel. He made his excuses—he was running low on money, he didn't like the Ferris wheel much anyway—and directed his steps back towards the midway. 

A tall girl stood in front of the arch, full-on making out with the person behind the booth. Nico felt his blood turn icy, but then the girl broke away, revealing a boy. He was tall and attractive, just like Will, but he wasn't Will, and that was what made Nico feel so relieved. 

The boy grinned at the girl. “Sorry, sugar, it’ll be another dollar if you want more.” She smiled and shook her head ruefully, and ignored Nico as she disappeared into the crowd. 

“That’ll be a dollar, sugar.” a low, molasses-slow voice crooned. 

Nico started as he realized the boy was addressing him. “What?” 

The boy—Will’s brother—grinned sultrily at him. “I assume you’re here for my service?” 

They looked a lot alike, but Nico realized the fundamental difference between Lee and Will just then. They were both beautiful, but Lee  _ knew  _ he was beautiful. Which, there was nothing wrong with that. But Will had an air of humility about him, a vague, innocent aura that was magnetic. He had no idea that he could have any effect at all on a boy like Nico, that he could become a permanent fixture in Nico’s mind, that the constellation of freckles across his nose could become the stuff of dreams, the kind of dreams Nico regretted waking up from.  

Nico cleared his throat. “I’m actually looking for Will. Will Solace. Is he here?” 

Lee raised his eyebrows, looking amused. He turned around towards the white tent pitched hastily behind the booth. “WILL!” he called. “YOU HAVE A REQUEST!”

No response. Lee rolled his eyes and stalked over to the tent. He reached inside and yanked an enormous textbook out. Nico heard a voice cry out, “Hey!” Will scrambled out of the tent, looking startled. He tried to snatch the textbook from Lee, who laughed and tossed it back into the tent. 

Will huffed indignantly. “What do you want, Lee?” 

“I told you, you’ve got a request.” 

“You liar, what do you really—” Will saw Nico for the first time. His voice died in his throat. 

Nico did his best to smile and waved halfheartedly.

Lee was smirking. “Shall I leave you two alone?” 

“You should go away, for good, preferably.” Will retorted, but there was no malice behind his words, just embarrassment. Lee bowed gaily, winked at Nico, and sauntered off. 

“Don't you dare text Mom!” Will yelled to his brother. 

“Too late.” Lee called back. 

Will groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. “I swear, he usually isn't this much of a jerk. He just knows something happened earlier, and I wasn't telling him, so he’s been making fun of me for it.” He bit his lip. “Also, he’s mad because I didn't keep the booth open the whole time he was gone. I closed it for good after you…” 

“Why?” Nico asked. Curiosity and a weird sense of surety mixed in his brain. 

“I was kind of...overwhelmed.” Will said. He smiled bashfully. “I’ve been holed up in that tent all day reading. That’s what I meant to do anyway. My mom only made me come because she didn't want Lee getting in trouble.” 

Nico frowned. “You mean you’ve been sitting in there all day? You’re at the fair. Shouldn’t you be having fun?” 

Will shrugged. “I guess. It’s not that I don’t like the fair, it’s just kind of a weird thing to do alone. And Lee wanted me around to take over when he inevitably abandoned the booth.” He looked Nico up and down. 

Steadying himself to do something he hadn’t been able to imagine himself doing even yesterday for the second time that day, Nico met Will’s eyes. “Do you want to grab something to eat then? Maybe go on the Tilt-a-Whirl or something? I haven’t eaten, and I have some money left.” 

Will opened his mouth to speak, but Nico suddenly couldn’t stop talking. “I mean, I’d like to get to know you a little better. I know I was kind of...forward, today, and you probably think I’m very strange, which you’d probably be right about that, but I think you’re funny and smart and a pretty good kisser, even though I have no reference for that kind of thing, and we don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to. It’s all good. I think you’d be a great friend regardless of anything else.” He tried not to gasp too hard for breath, because that might have been the most words he’d said all day. 

Will looked a little flustered. “Sure! I might as well get my revenge on my brother, and I’d love to get to know you better too. And if you think you’re strange, did I tell you that I was reading a medical textbook all day?” 

“What? How old are you?” Nico asked, incredulous.

“I’m sixteen.” 

“So am I! I don’t go around reading medical textbooks! Who does?” 

Will grinned. “I do. I’ve always wanted to be a doctor. I’ve always found it really interesting.”

Of course Nico had managed to attract the biggest nerd in the stratosphere. He said as much to Will, who laughed, and walked out from behind the booth to join him. 

They got corn dogs and caramel apples, and they played a few games on the midway. Will proved himself a pitiful basket shooter even though he was really tall. Nico wasn't bad at skee-ball though, and he won a pink unicorn. 

“Aww, it’s so cute!” Will cooed playfully. 

Nico rolled his eyes. “I’m naming it Dreamcrusher.” 

Will laughed. “That doesn't mean it isn't cute, though. Adorable, actually.” 

Nico scoffed and looked up into Will’s eyes. The snarky reply he’d been concocting died in his throat. “Really?” 

Will looked slightly embarrassed. He broke eye contact and nodded. “Really really.” 

Nico looked down, trying to overcome the blood suddenly pounding in his ears. “That’s nice.” he heard himself say. “Want to head to the boardwalk?” 

“Sure.” Will replied, and he caught Nico’s wrist in his hand as they started to walk away. 

There was a green teddy bear in his left hand and a sparkly pink unicorn tucked under that arm, and the nervously clutching fingers of an adorable boy who was technically a stranger but felt closer in his right hand. It wasn't the worst feeling in the world. 

They found a quiet spot on the boardwalk and leaned against the railing. The sun was going down by now, and the gentle sounds of the ocean drowned out the chaotic noise of the fair. Nico could have stood there for hours talking to Will, listening to all he had to say—he had two older brothers, a younger sister, a worn-out mom and a deadbeat dad, he went to another school than Nico (the prestigious private school three miles away from Nico’s crappy public school) and he was on scholarship. His favorite color was green, which Nico thought fit him. He had hand-me-down clothes and textbooks and shoes and the only thing he had of his own were his dreams, dreams of helping people. He had a cat and a regular babysitting job. He liked to sing, but his singing voice was, in his words, abominable. 

“I’m sure you’re not that bad, Will.”

“Oh yeah?” Will grimaced and warbled a few bars of “Just the Way You Are.” 

“It really isn’t that bad…” Nico was cringing. 

“Liar.” Will accused, before breaking into a laugh. “My only musical talent is whistling.”

Nico found himself opening up much more than he ever would have imagined, especially to a person he hadn’t know twenty-four hours ago. How his family had moved from Italy when he was ten (“So that’s where the accent comes from!” “I do not have an accent!” “Oh yes you do, you roll your r’s just a little bit and it’s so cute”). How his mother got sick and died before that, when he was too little to remember more than just a few fleeting memories that he held on to dearly. How Bianca was in college and Hazel was a surprise, shipped out west after her mom’s car wreck and a DNA test, but how Nico loved her just as fiercely as he loved Bianca. How he’d played Mythomagic obsessively in middle school, and how he hadn’t quite let it go yet. How he’d never had a cat but had always, secretly wanted one. How he got annoyed pretty easily by the goof-ups and screwballs he called his friends, but how he would do anything for them, anyway. How everyone figured his favorite color was black, but how he’d always preferred yellow. How he’d never dated anyone, and how he’d figured he wouldn’t ever date anyone, at this point, how he’d decided dating was overrated anyway.

“Seriously, Jason and Piper act like they’re married at sixteen, it’s kind of sickening, to be honest.”

Will was frowning. “We don’t have to act like we’re  _ married.” _

Nico fell silent. He could feel the blush creeping up his neck (he was blushing way too much today and honestly, he was  _ so  _ done with that.) Will seemed to realize what he’d said. His eyes widened. “I mean, I don’t want to….uh….” 

He was also pretty done with the awkwardness of today, too, but it was hard to keep himself from stuttering. “It’s okay. I, uh, don’t mind.” 

Will looked up at him from where he’d been staring at his worn out sandals. “You don’t?” 

Nico stamped down the fear rising in his belly. “No. I don’t. I mean, all that stuff I was saying about dating, I…” 

Will turned away from the railing to face him. “You…” 

“I meant it, but I meant it before I met you.” Nico said, trying to ignore his quickening heartbeats. “I don’t think I believe it anymore. It’s kind of like...like trying a new food, or something, isn’t it? You can’t knock it until you’ve tried it.” 

Will stepped closer, and Nico had to shake himself because it could not be stated enough times how impossibly attractive he was. “I think I’d compare it to trying skydiving or jumping off a high dive, actually.” He smiled. 

_ A leap of faith.  _ Nico couldn’t help thinking.  _ Falling down the rabbit hole.  _

Who knew where they would be going from here? 

Even as his fingers tangled in Will’s hair, as Will gently wrapped his arms around him, as he looked into those bright blue eyes one more time before closing his own, Nico thought that he wouldn’t mind wherever it was, as long as he was with Will. 

(It’s hard to kiss someone when their lips are all stretched out because they’re grinning so widely, but Nico managed. He didn’t mind, even. Soon he learned to be used to it.) 

(Percy was so, so smug.) 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed. 
> 
> Feedback/constructive criticism is appreciated! 
> 
> Have a lovely day! :)


End file.
